Hospital Debuts Sound Therapy Room Designed By Brian Eno

Will the worlds of medicine and ambient music be more closely joined in the future? Via SPIN:

English doctors are instructing patients to heal themselves with Brian Eno’s restorative music.

Orthopedic surgeon Robin Turner has teamed with the hugely influential producer/sound wizard to create a “quiet room” where people can “think, take stock, or simply relax.” The £34 million private Montefiore hospital (in Hove, England) also features an Eno light and music piece in its reception area. Turner says he came up with the idea in 2010 after seeing how peaceful his normally “fidgety” mother-in-law became after visiting Eno’s audio-visual 77 Million Paintings installation.

“It seemed a natural step as I’ve been dealing with this idea of functional music for quite a few years,” said Eno, a firm believer in the idea that music can alter moods. “In the last couple of days I’ve met patients and staff who have said, ‘I really like that room, it makes a big difference.'”

Unlike his brother Roger, Brian has never been a big believer in the healing properties of music. So this seems a bit of a strange thing for him to do … then again Brian Eno is always looking for new things to do so maybe he’s just chalking it up as that and justifying it with a raft of quasi-explanations. A common tactic for the conceptual artist.

The Well Dressed Man

Personally “Here Comes The Warm Jets” never ceases to make me feel better.